[Westheim]

At the start of February, Abel Mora returned to the Wolves on a $520k arrangement. Mora had once come from Salem, acquired in January of 2024 for Joe Moore, Cory Dew, and Kaleb Babcock. The trio of pitchers had done precious little for Salem. All of them had flushed from the team by ’27. Moore had since won a ring with the Pacifics. The Raccoons meanwhile had grabbed the second half of Mora’s peak, although notably from 2024 on, when Abel posted 5.1 WAR batting .285 with 13 homers for the Critters, his WAR decreased with every season that passed; thereafter he put out values of 4.2, 4.0, 2.9, 2.4, 1.2, and finally, last season, 0.1 WAR. Woof.

Thankfully, WAR is a useless stat. Seriously, what is it good for?

The Raccoons made a few more half-assed attempts to trade for a prospect in January and February, but we couldn’t get takers for Ricky Ohl, who I considered a) an asset, and b) maybe too old to contribute once the Critters would return to the first division. The second part was not true for Josh Boles, but indeed was for Rich Hereford. And yes, Hereford’s last two years have more or less been disasters… but I at least got people to talk to me, especially the “win now” crowd. Unfortunately, they – especially the Titans – were not eager to part with a top prospect.

Hereford would stick around for Opening Day thus, and maybe he could rekindle the fire of ’28 and net us compensation at the end of the season…

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February 23 – The Titans bring home OF Adam Braun (.275, 102 HR, 561 RBI) after three years away in a deal that sends CL Pat Selby (70-57, 3.40 ERA, 186 SV) to the Condors along with #27 prospect CL Josh Heckman, 24, who already has four major league appearances with two different teams for a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings.
February 23 – Furthermore, the Titans send C J.J. “Hopalong” Henley (.283, 207 HR, 751 RBI) to the Pacifics for SP Eric Williams (163-123, 3.29 ERA).
March 1 – The Bayhawks ink ex-SAC C Kyle Hearn (.266, 39 HR, 217 RBI) for 2-yr, $1.88M.
March 20 – The Raccoons claim 25-year-old 2B/SS Alex Geraldo (.213, 0 HR, 4 RBI) off waivers by the Dallas Stars.

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Geraldo is far from special. His main benefit is that he has an option left, so he’s a good depth piece for the upcoming season. It’s never wrong to have an extra shortstop when you’re having Alberto Ramos penciled in. To make room on the 40-man roster for Geraldo, Juan Magallanes was waived and designated for assignment, so this also cleared up the situation in the outfield where four potential centerfielders (Vanatti, Allan, Catella) had stood on each others’ hindpaws. Magallanes was good at drawing walks; but that was not a redeeming quality when you’re batting .205 on a sunny day. He was 27. Somehow he had tricked a major league team to debut him at age 21, and had gobbled up over 850 plate appearances to bat .249/.343/.278 with a homer and 49 RBI. He had also won two rings for his bothers.

We had tried to make him work for a couple of years, but the story of this Colombian ninth-round pick and alumnus of Yeshiva Rambam High School in New York was likely over.

Except, well, crippling injuries, y’know?

We didn’t make any more signings except a trash heap addition of 21-year-old outfielder Gabe McCormack, assigned to Aumsville. That one cost minor league meal money. In the end we managed to pump money into player development and at the end of winter still had $1.9M unspent.

What else? More former Critters signing new contracts: Vince “D” Devereaux signed for 2-yr, $2.04M with the Bayhawks; Billy Brotman got a $620k deal from the Buffaloes; Kevin Surginer was added by the Scorpions for $700k; Kyle Anderson would get $314k from the Aces;

It’s the eve of the new season. Boundless horrors await.